Warren County
Local History by Dallas Bogan |
Contributor: |
Dallas Bogan on 10 August 2004 |
Source: |
original article by Dallas Bogan |
Return to Index to see a list of other articles by Dallas Bogan |
Along the Little Miami River, in Clermont County, once existed possibly the
first paper mill in the entire Northwest Territory. (Another source says that
the first paper making facility was started in 1806 in Fawcettstown, now East
Liverpool, Ohio.) The mill was situated on 1,060 2/3 acres just above the mouth
of the East Fork in the area of Camp Dennison on Rt. 126. Though never actually
seeing it, George Washington was the first white man to own
this land, one of four tracts he had purchased in the Little Miami River valley.
This particular acreage was purchased by Christian Waldschmidt
from Joseph Kerr just previous to March 25, 1811. Waldschmidt
built and operated a mill on an island of the Little Miami just above Milford.
The historic watermark of the mill was "Miami-W. & Co."
Waldschmidt had a pioneer spirit about him whereas in modern
times he would have been called an entrepreneur.
Already pursuing the trade of a master craftsman in the papermaking profession,
he immigrated to western Pennsylvania in 1786 as the head of a group of German,
Swiss, French and Dutch Pietists who sought religious freedom.
Hearing affirmative tales of the Miami Country, he set out in 1794 on horseback
with several members of his party to inspect this newly discovered land beyond
the mountains.
Like so many other pioneers, Waldschmidt envisioned a land
where saw mills for cutting logs for homes, grist mills in which to grind the
corn and wheat, and quite importantly, mills that would manufacture the means
for paper products. A paper mill could produce ledgers, legal papers, and most
certainly, the newspapers.
Thomas Fitzwater gave an account of the immigration of his
family and the Waldschmidt's from Pennsylvania, and the pioneer
events following their settlement. He wrote:
"C. Waldschmidt, our own family, and four other families
started to this State [Ohio] on or near the 1st of May, 1796. I have little
recollection of the journey to Juniata, but I recollect that place.
"The next place I recollect seeing was Bedford Springs, then nothing more
until we came to Redstone [Pennsylvania]. Here we were detained near three weeks
waiting for our flatboats.
"At Pittsburgh we met Gen. Wayne's regular army. I have
a distinct recollection of seeing the soldiers firing the cannon; then the drum
would beat and the fife would play a short time.
"The Ohio River was low, and the three flat-boats had great difficulty
in getting along. They only traveled in the day-time, always tying up to the
shore at night. At the mouth of Bracken River two families left and went into
Kentucky.
"After being on the river seven weeks we landed at Columbia.
The [Little] Miami was pouring out muddy water and driftwood. This was the first
sight I got of that river.
"Not far above the mouth of the Miami the boat which contained Waldschmidt's
family ran aground. The four men and a boy tried to get it afloat that afternoon
and into the night, but did not succeed. The next morning another boat came
along, when they hailed the inmates for assistance; this boat landed close to
ours, and I recollect seeing three or four go to the boat which was aground;
in two or three hours the boat was afloat.
"Waldschmidt was so pleased to get his boat afloat that
he told them he would give them ten gallons of whisky for their services. They
bought a keg which held three gallons, and he filled that.
"It was about the middle of July when we landed at Columbia. In fifteen
or eighteen days, after the Miami got low, we arrived at our journey's end.
Waldschmidt went vigorously to work building a mill. Sometime
in the summer of 1797 I saw the frame of his gristmill put up. That same fall
he started one run of stones and also two copper stills for making whisky."
Columbia, a rather small settlement at the mouth of the Little Miami, showed
some promise of growth, but Waldschmidt needed room for expansion for his proposed
paper mill. He needed a strong current of clear water, a river large enough
for transportation, and trees for lumber.
An excellent site in the wilderness he found. This location was on a bend on
the Little Miami just above Milford. He purchased this site at $1.00 per acre
and immediately began building three blockhouses.
Shortly thereafter, he and a companion traveled back to Pennsylvania and returned
the following year with 20 families to the Miami Valley. At the new location
they began building a gristmill and a sawmill.
He quickly became acquainted with Cincinnati as an important trade center. A
new road was built, called the Wooster Pike, which allowed Waldschmidt
to direct his droves of corn-fed hogs to the slaughterhouses in the city. Flour
and corn meal were also sent from Waldschmidt's site by flat boat to Cincinnati
and on to New Orleans. Waldschmidt, through his trade expertise,
became a member of the early Miami Exporting Company.
The land in this area was once a busy place. Here great droves of hogs were
fattened on Miami Valley corn and many a local farmer gained wealth. A steady
flow of heavily loaded wagons brought corn and wheat into the mills, later named
the Kugler Mills after Waldschmidt's son-on-law.
Logs were sawed and processed for new homes from this location, which included
Milford, Round Bottom, Indian Hill, Plainville and Columbia. Later the white
oaks were cut for ties for the Little Miami Railroad.
Nothing remains of the grand enterprise today except the family homestead. The
great barns and cattle pens, the small community church, all have since disappeared.
The first newspaper produced from Waldschmidt's paper mill
was that of the Western Spy, an important newspaper of the Northwest Territory.
The old paper mill was a blessing to the editors who were unceasingly delayed
by paper shipments sent down the Ohio from the East. Many times this old river
would be frozen which would delay the flat boats for an undetermined period.
Waldschmidt's newspaper enterprise was growing by leaps and
bounds. He sent out a call for apprentices, girls as well as boys. Girls were
employed as rag sorters, they being more familiar with the quality of linen.
These rags were bought for three and four cents a pound. The rags were then
manufactured into paper with the mill's production reaching 100 to 150 pounds
a day. In contrast, today's Miami Valley mills increasingly produce 100 to 150
tons per day.
His offer of board, $100, a new suit of clothes and nine months of night schooling,
far exceeded other industries in those days. As time passed he increased the
span of his paper mill and offered the highest prices for linen rags, which
was the only source of paper in early times.
A more common grayish paper was standardized at other mills at that time. However,
the "Miami" watermarked, hand-made paper was of the best quality and
of a cloudless color. It seems that the clear water of the Little Miami tended
to wash the pulp free of impurities.
Waldschmidt, born in 1755, along with some members of his family,
succumbed in the spring of 1814 to the epidemic called the "cold plague."
However, his able son-in-law, Mathias Kugler, and his grandson,
John Kugler, carried on the work.
The DAR has restored the old Waldschmidt house, which was in
quite a deplorable state. The old dwelling was given to the DAR by Mr. and Mrs.
Chester Kroger of Cincinnati who also contributed $5000 toward
its reconditioning.
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This page created 10 August 2004 and last updated
28 September, 2008
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